Emily Nielsen Jones is co-founder and president of the Imago Dei Fund which is engaged in promoting human equality, justice, and peace around the world. Dr. Musimbi Kanyoro is president and CEO of the Global Fund for Women the largest publicly supported grant making foundation that advances human rights by investing in women-led organizations. Both co-authors believe that gender-lens investing needs to “move beyond seeing women and girls as a separate programmatic silo in one’s portfolio”, and that gender norms need to be re-evaluated.

They ask:

“How can empowerment programs empower someone who is still seen by their culture and their religion as not possessing basic human agency to participate equally in their family, their community, and in all aspects of society?”

Jones and Kanyoro believe that private philanthropy plays a critical role in strategically supporting networks of indigenous change agents working to create a deeper shift in gender norms. They call this type of work “belief-based social innovation.” In their article for the Stanford Social Innovation Review they explore global gender progress to date, the barriers to change that women face, and three promising paths for philanthropists seeking to influence beliefs at the root of harmful gender norms.

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